Pimentel wants term limits retained in proposed federalist charter

Senate President Aquilino Pimentel III (Photo by JOSEPH VIDAL / Senate Public Relations and Information Bureau)

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY — Senate President Aquilino Pimentel III on Saturday said he was batting for the retention of term limits under the proposed shift of the government federalism, through charter change, to address the issue of political dynasties.

Pimentel said he was supportive of President Rodrigo Duterte’s move to shift to federalism but stressed he was against dynasties.

“I am for strengthening [the new charter] by incorporating self-executing anti-political dynasty provisions because the party, I will still convince the party ,but myself I am already convinced that I am for retaining term limit. If we retain term limits, we have the self-executing anti-political dynasty provision,” he told reporters here.

He said politicians could not circumvent it anymore.

Pimentel said his model of federalism would adapt some concepts of a “parliamentary setup.”

“And also I am for reviewing the powers of the judiciary so that we can already do away with judicial legislations,” he added.

Pimentel said legislators from both houses of Congress were now in the process of studying the 1987 Constitution so they could contribute their own proposals for the shift to federal form of government.

The senator also said he was setting aside his differences with House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez for the moment.

He said he was reserving his verbal arguments when they would meet to deliberate all the points raised on the constitutional change.

“We had a very basic agreement,” Pimentel said, referring to his deal with Alvarez. “Why would we argue when there is no point yet? We will only spend our energy on substance, the actual proposals, and when we will meet down the road, that’s when we argue.”

Pimentel was here to oversee the oath-taking of local politicians into the Partido Demokratikong Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban). They included Mayor Oscar Moreno, who was considered one of the influential Liberal Party members in Northern Mindanao.

“They should now expand the membership and then they should support the candidates of the party, especially that we need help with federalism,” Pimentel said of the new party members.

It was also important to note, he said, that PDP-Laban focuses on the quality rather than the quantity of its party membership.

Moreno, who had faced several charges at the Ombudsman, said he ditched LP and his pledged of allegiance to the PDP-Laban was just a “formality.”

He said he had been politically influenced by the PDP-Laban founder, former Senate President Aquilino “Nene” Pimentel Jr.

Moreno said he contracted the “political virus” from the elder Pimentel, some 25 years ago when they were working on a case together.

“I was transformed from somebody who hated politics to somebody who wanted to be a public servant,” he said. /atm